Water cannons turned on crowd in Brickfields

KUALA LUMPUR: Water cannons were turned on a group who came to the Brickfields police station to lodge mass police reports against the mistreatment of ISA detainee P. Uthayakumar who suffers from diabetes.
The crowd had refused to disperse despite repeated warnings from the police.
City police chief DCP Mohd Sabtu Osman said 17 people, including Kapar MP Manikavasagam, had been arrested for illegal gathering.
Among the arrested, three, including a woman, were sent to the hospital but police declined to comment.
Earlier Saturday, about 300 people, including several Members of Parliament, had gathered to make the police reports.
Police allowed about 50 people - five family members of Uthayakumar and five representatives each from the country’s nine states, including MPs - to enter the station to lodge the reports.
The rest outside were asked to disperse. Most of them did but about 30 refused to leave.
The Federal Reserve Unit, which was already on standby, began shooting chemical-laced water at the crowd. The 30 ran away and then came back. They were again shot at with water cannons.
They ran way again, regrouped and returned to face a third round of dousing before dispersing.
It took about 40 minutes for the FRU to disperse the crowd.
They have now established a safety perimeter around the police station.
Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said police had no choice as the crowd had ignored police advise to disperse as they were inconveniencing others at the Brickfields police station.
“We advised them on Friday and even appealed to them via the TV, newspapers and radio not to come in such large numbers to lodge the same report as we will investigate them as a single report.
“They refused to listen and seemed to want to create unnecessary problems for others.
“The police station is a security area and we cannot allow such huge numbers inside for security reasons,’’ he said.
Musa warned that police would not hesitate to take stern action against any illegal gathering.
Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo who arrived later said that the incident should not have happened as every citizen had the right to lodge a police report regardless of the number.
“It is clear there are different standards practised by the police when dealing with such matters,” he said.




By Lourdes Charles and M. Kumar, The Star